Danica’s Daily Gets a Makeover & Moves…

Hi all!  I am super excited to show you all the newly designed Danica’s Daily.  So, head on over and check out the new site at:

www.danicasdaily.com

PLEASE BE SURE TO UPDATE YOUR READER/SUBSCRIPTION WITH THE NEW SITE ADDRESS.  You just need to drop the .blogspot and you should be good to go.

I will always keep up this site as this is where it all began :)  Beginning tomorrow, I will start posting on the new site.

Thanks to ZestyCook for his help in designing my fantastic new layout!!!

See you at the NEW Danica’s Daily!!!

Pomegranate Chicken & Roasted Green Beans

Dinner tonight was absolutely fantastic ~ we both gave it 5 stars all around and I will definitely be making this again!  I’ve been wanting to use the POM Wonderful Juice that I received in a recipe and tonight was the night.

Can you guess the star of the show?

 

POMEGRANATE CHICKEN

½ cup chopped walnuts
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 ½ lb chicken breast tenderloin
1 Large Vidalia Onion, halved and sliced
2 cups 100% pomegranate juice
1 lemon, juiced
1/2 tsp minced fresh rosemary
sea salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
1 green onion, sliced, optional

1. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the walnuts and toss until browned, then place on a plate to cool.
2. Add oil to pan, then add tenderloins. Brown on both sides and remove, setting aside.
3. Add onions to skillet, moving them around so they pick up all the chicken drippings. When onions have softened and browned, add pomegranate juice, lemon juice and rosemary. Add sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Allow to remain at a vigorous simmer, for about 10 minutes, then add chicken back to pan. Simmer vigorously until sauce has reduced, about another 10 minutes. Serve with walnuts and green onion sprinkled on top.

Makes 6 servings, 5 Weight Watcher Points Each

    

Our veggies tonight involved roasting the Purple Green Beans we got at the market last week.

Roasted Green Beans with Walnuts

1 lb green beans, stems and ends snapped off
1 small sweet onion, halved and sliced into thick slices
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
sea salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp minced fresh rosemary
2 Tbsp roasted, chopped walnuts

 

1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Line a large cookie sheet with foil.  Add green beans and onions.  Drizzle with olive oil, sea salt & pepper. Mix with hands and roast for 10 minutes.

2.  Combine balsamic, honey and rosemary.  Drizzle over green beans and roast for an additional 10 minutes.  Serve topped with walnuts.

Makes 4 servings, 1 Weight Watcher Point each

I had one serving of beans ~ I LOVE roasted veggies and the balsamic/honey adds a fantastic sweetness along with the roasted nuttiness of the walnuts.

Plus a 1/2 c Trader Joe’s Organic Frozen Brown Rice.  I have The Husband hooked on this rice – he actually request it now instead of white – yeah!  

And the star of the show, 1 serving Pomegranate Chicken!!!  I LOVED the chicken and it honestly reminded me a bit of Thanksgiving.  I know wrong fruit, but, I think it was just the combination of the herbs and the fruit juice that made it feel like a total healthy comfort meal.

All together with a POM spritzer ~ it was the perfect meal and it was totally worth heating up the kitchen to cook it!  The Husband ate it all, but, I did manage to save one small serving for lunch tomorrow – yeah!

Dessert tonight was another Trader Joe’s Raspberry Vanilla Cream Bar – YUM!

I am off to finish watching the Bachlorette Finale and make the last minute changes to switch to the new site ~ Yeah!

Nite all!

Grilled Eggplant Lasagna

I LOVE Eggplant Parmesan and Lasagna, but, both are not too friendly when it comes to calories and fat.  I decided to combine the two to come up with maybe one of my favorite new healthy recipes. 

Grilled Eggplant Lasagna

 

2 medium eggplants, sliced lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices

2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1 1/2 cup fat-free cottage cheese

2 cup sliced mushrooms

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 c shredded Parmesan cheese

2 cups marinara sauce (I used Trader Joe’s Starter Sauce)

Sliced the eggplant and lightly brush the eggplant with olive oil.   Place on a medium nonstick baking sheet. Sprinkle both sides with sea salt and pepper. Place on your grill or in the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes per side, or until tender.

Meanwhile, lightly mist a medium nonstick skillet with olive oil spray. Set over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until there is no liquid remaining in the pan and the mushrooms are starting to brown.

Preheat the oven to 350 ° F. Place half of the eggplant in a single layer in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Top with half of the mushroom mixture, half of the marinara sauce, and half of the cheese. Repeat with the remaining eggplant, mushrooms, sauce, and cheese. Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until hot and the cheese is bubbly. Remove and let stand for 10 minutes. Cut into 6 equal portions. Serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings, 5 Weight Watchers Points each!

Start out by slicing your eggplant lengthwise in 1/4 inch strips.  Line up your slices and brush them with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper.  I used Consorzio Roasted Garlic Olive oil for extra flavor.

Place your prepared eggplant slices on the grill for about 3-5 minutes per side.

While your eggplant cooks, saute your mushrooms and garlic in nonstick pan with a little nonstick olive oil spray until browned.

 

For your marinara, I have a FAVORITE goto sauce that really doesn’t need added flavors.

I LOVE that the nutritionals are good (it isn’t loaded with sugar) and you can recognize every ingredient on the list.

 

Now it’s time to layer your lasagna.  Start with a layer of your eggplant slices and top them with 1/2 the mushroom mixture.

Add 1/2 your marinara sauce.

Plus 1/2 your mozzarella and cottage cheese. Repeat the layers with last topping being a little freshly shredded parmesan.

Bake in the oven as directed above.

   

Cut into 6 slices and enjoy!  I LOVE any lasagna that gives me 1/6th of the pan for less than 300 calories/5 Weight Watcher Points – YUM!

With my lasagna I had some fun fruit ~ a Plurine (1/2 pear, 1/2 nectarine) and a pluot (1/2 apricot, 1/2 plum).

And for dessert, I decided to bust out some Chez Cocoa Summer Salts!  I LOVED this flavor as well – it’s like a dark chocolate sunflower seed that is crunchy but not super sweet.  It was a lot of fun to crunch.  I started out with 1/2  a serving, but, deciding to just have the full serving – this x’s 2.

I am off to listen to my book on tape Second Chance by Jane Green as I work away on some reports – yeah!

See you all for another NEW POMTastic dinner recipe!

A “Quickie” Post

Today has been such a busy day, but, all in a good way – it means time is flying by!  So I am going to make this a “quickie” breakfast post so I can get you all caught up on my day.  I got back to the basics with my breakfast this morning – a little protein, a little carbs and a little fruity crunch.

I started off with some protein ~ An Egg White Fluffy with 2 Egg Whites, Tapatio Hot Sauce, Sea Salt & Pepper.  You can cook these in the microwave in 50 seconds – YUM!

Instead of making an Eggwich,I kept my Orowheat Double Fiber English Muffin on the side topped with 1 Tbsp Whipped Butter. (3 Weight Watcher Points)

 

And to balance out my meal, 1 c of grapes.

All together I LOVED having a plate of fun to eat for only 4.5 Weight Watcher Points!

My mid-morning snack was a small banana with 1 Tbsp PB&CO Cinnamon Swirl PB.  I didn’t get a chance to snap a picture since I had to gobble it down on a break from my morning long meeting.

In my exciting blogness news, I will be unveiling my new site tonight!!!  I still of course have a few things to change/modify, but, it is good enough to go – yeah!

I hope your Monday is flying by, I know mine sure is!

Coming up next, that Grilled Cheesy Eggplant Lasagna recipe I told you about yesterday!

Grilled Satay Peanut Chicken Salad

I always seem to want something sweet in the afternoon.  Usually some fruit and/or yogurt takes care of the craving.  However, I wasn’t really hungry today so I know I didn’t need anything.   I was super proud of myself for passing up the sample at Trader Joe’s (Apple Streusel w/French Vanilla Ice cream!)   Since I am sticking to tracking all my BLT’s I didn’t want to have to try to figure out the nutritionals for that – ha – that is one way to avoid it, right? LOL…..

When I got home, I STILL wanted something sweet so I had a few of The Husband’s Brachs Jelly Nougats – I LOVE these!  After looking up the nutritional information, I had 2 more since you get 5 for 3 Weight Watcher Points – total justification, right?! :)

It was so hot today so dinner was light and on the grill.  I grilled up some “Satay Peanut” Chicken breasts by brushing them with this sauce I got at Trader Joe’s.

While the chicken grilled, I prepped our salads.  Here is mine BEFORE I added chicken.

Organic Romaine mixed with Organic Mixed Greens

Green onion

Orange Bell Pepper

Sliced cucumber

Sliced yellow/orange tomatoes

A couple of strawberries and a sprinkle of blueberries

1/4 of a small AVOCADO

I added 3 oz of grilled Chicken Satay and a sprinkle of roasted sesame seeds

  

I made up a batch of Ginger Sesame Dressing and drizzled about 2 Tbsp over my salad.

 

Today when I was shopping I happened to see that PopChips has a new flavor that I have not yet tried ~ Sea Salt Multi-Grain Chips.  I couldn’t wait to open them up and give them a try.  They are so different from their other flavors – not in a bad way.  They are sorta like a multi-grain rice cake/cracker to me.  I had 10 chips with my dinner :)

For dessert, I decided to give the Trader Joe’s Raspberry & Vanilla Cream Bars a try that I bought  a few weeks back.

  

My first reaction was – it’s SMALL and then my 2nd reaction was where is the stick?  The bar is about a 1/2 cup of ice cream so it’s a mini bar for 2 Weight Watcher Points.  Oh and if I read the package it says there is no stick, you are suppose to eat it like a push-up :)  It was actually really good, creamy and had the perfect balance of berry and vanilla bean.

  

I also prepped my lunch for tomorrow today ~ Be sure to check back tomorrow for my Grilled Eggplant Lasagna Recipe.

Today was totally productive getting things done around the house and getting ready for our busy weekend next week.  However, I think I am forever behind on reading your blogs….I will do my best to catch up this week to see what you all are up to.

For now, I am off to watch the Next Food Network Star!  Nite all!

Moving right along….

My Double Cinnamon French Toast did a fantastic job of keeping me full all morning.  We didn’t break for lunch until 2:00 ~ 5 hours later – love that.

I knew exactly what I wanted for lunch today and it involved two of my favorite Trader Joe’s products.

I started out with a slice of TJ’s 3 – Seeded Break and topped it with a little sweet & spicy mustard and 1 serving of their Spicy Marinated Mozzarella.

 

I put it in the toaster oven to get ally melty, toasty and a little browned.

 

Topped with 99% FF Turkey, Ham and some cucumber chips – SO GOOD!

To balance out my meal I had a cup of cherry tomatoes.

All together my lunch was 6 Weight Watcher Points (rounding up high) and completely satisfying!  I did pull out a Plurine Fruit to eat too but I am full so I am waiting on that.

I am moving right along getting everything checked off my list and feeling all accomplished.  I have our meals planned out and now I am off to pick up a few things for the week before I come back and spend some quality time in the kitchen cooking/baking.  See you all for dinner tonight!

Double Cinnamon French Toast

I was dreaming all night about that fantastic Cinnamon Swirl bread we bought last night.  I think The Husband was too because when I got back from my meeting he asked if I had French Toast without him – he was smelling the bread all morning – funny!

I started off my day by going to my Weight Watcher meeting first thing this morning and I am really glad I did.  The normal leader that I listen to on Saturday’s was teaching and it made me realize that I miss her.  I think I have found my home again on Saturday’s and plan on switching back to that day.  I never realized how much limbo it can make you feel like you are in by not having a set leader that you love listening to. 

I started out with that Cinnamon Swirl Bread I bought at The Grateful Bread yesterday.  LOVE all the cinnamony swirliness of it – YUM!

I mixed up a “French Toast” mixture of:

2 eggs

3 egg whites

2 Tbsp Fat Free Milk

Splash of Vanilla

Dashes of Cinnamon and Sea Salt

I then dipped each slice in the mix and cooked with nonstick spray until browned on each side.

I made up 6 slices, 2 slices per serving is 5 Weight Watcher Points.

I had TWO slices topped with 1 tsp whipped butter and 1/2 Tbsp Pure Maple syrup for a total of 7.5 points – not too bad for a decadent Sunday Brunch.

I made my slices thin and the Husbands plus his mom Thick slices like below.

I think the BEST part was coming across the cinnamon swirl parts – SO GOOD!

Another goal I have this week is to center each meal around fruit and/or vegetables.  I added a 1 cup serving on cantaloupe and watermelon to balance out my breakfast.

Today I have a ton of things to check off my to-do list including making a few new recipes so I am off to get started.

Have a great Sunday all ~ see you all this afternoon!